NEA: Local Schools Must Address Safety of Gays

They listened as a gay student told what it felt like to attend a
public school. They brought in an evangelical minister who explained
his belief that homosexual activity is a sin. And they held focus
groups to probe public opinion on sexual orientation.

In the end, a task force of leaders from the National Education
Association was able to agree on this much: Educators cannot ignore the
risks faced by homosexual students and school employees, but deciding
how to deal with the issue should be a matter of local concern.

Officials of the 2.6 million- member NEA hardly expect the
consensus—spelled out in a report approved by its board of
directors Feb. 8—to satisfy the critics who accuse the union of
pushing a "pro-homosexual" agenda. Instead, they say their hope is to
focus new energies on addressing what they see as an urgent matter of
safety and human rights, while recognizing that teachers, like the
general public, hold widely divergent views on the subject.

"In the final analysis, it hardly matters why [gay students] are the
way they are," said Penny Kotterman, the president of the Arizona
Education Association and the chairwoman of the 19-member task force.
"What's most important is that they have the opportunity to get an
education."

In fact, the "Report of the NEA Task Force on Sexual Orientation"
does little to alter NEA policy, which has long supported attempts to
protect gay students and school employees. One of the few specific
changes it proposes is for the union to push for a federal ban on job
discrimination based on sexual orientation.

While lauding the union for already taking "substantial" steps
toward supporting gay students and staff members, the 50-page document
makes clear the panel's view that "more should be done."

Although the NEA's top leaders will determine how to fill that
order, Ms. Kotterman said that any strategies will likely involve
changes in the training and support programs that the union offers its
members.

Whatever initiatives do emerge, the report says, "should
not—expressly or by implication—take a position for or
against any particular sexual orientation." Further, it says, any
school curricula that deal with such issues should be "developed
locally by teachers, other education employees, school board members,
parents, and community representatives."

Talking Things Out

Despite those caveats, union leaders say schools shouldn't try to
sweep the needs of gay students under the rug. In its work, the NEA
task force cited research indicating that gay, lesbian, and bisexual
students are far more likely than their classmates to commit suicide,
to be assaulted physically, and to drop out of school.

Clinton Anderson, an official with the American Psychological
Association, agreed that the topic is a timely one.

"The NEA is very well- justified in taking a more forceful stance on
schools' addressing the needs of the population of kids that we're
talking about, regardless of what one believes about the morality or
advisability of homosexual or sexual behavior among adolescents," Mr.
Anderson said. "The risks are real and need to be addressed."

Others were skeptical of the union's claim of support for local
control. Dick Carpenter, the education policy analyst for the
conservative group Focus on the Family, says he sees scant evidence
that the NEA is abandoning what he argues has been an effort to
"normalize" homosexuality. "They're going to ramp up training
activities to enable local and state leaders to go into public school
boards and lobby to try to effect change on this issue," he said.

The NEA action follows a year of sometimes heated discussion about
the union's stance on homosexual issues. Last summer, the
organization's main governing body opted not to vote on a resolution
calling for the union to take new steps toward ensuring a "safe and
inclusive" environment for gay and lesbian students at school. Instead,
the matter was handed to the special task force. ("NEA Poised to Defer Vote on Aid
for Gay Students," July 11, 2001.)

Ms. Kotterman said that the meetings held by the panel over four
months were sometimes highly emotional, and that the group included
"people with very, very different views of what they wanted to happen
at the end." Some were leaders of NEA affiliates that had pressed for
legal protections for homosexuals. Others represented state affiliates
that have in the past lost members when the national organization took
up the issue.

From the National Education
Association, read its Feb. 8, 2002, news release recommending
ways "to make schools safe and hospitable for gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgendered students and education employees."

In "Half
Truths, Homosexuality, and the National Education Association,"
Dick Carpenter, education policy analyst for the Christian organization
Focus on the Family, criticizes
the NEA's original resolution regarding treatment of gay and lesbian
students. "Apparently," writes Mr. Carpenter, "the NEA has abandoned
teachers and students in favor of the latest in-vogue cause and in so
doing show its true colors-an ultra-liberal organization far out of the
mainstream and dedicated to half-truths dangerous to children." The
article is posted on Focus on the Family's Focus on Education site.

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